lava's compositions, whether abstracting a religious motif or fitting together luscious figural elements, radiate with both unencumbered texture and thoughtful control. The paint is viscous, the contours are solid, and yet the ethereal light on an angel's face or the shadow creeping from under a crone's hood wing lightly across the canvas, drawing the viewer into the depths of the work. The contrast between weight and the artist's signature figure, a dense block of flesh shaped by visceral gravity and the airiness of the clouds or the softness around the eyes blend to perfect dynamism. The compositions, grounded in ponderous symbolism of myth, religion, history and art, undulate with the artist's unique rhythm of darkness and light, and come alive with a remarkable intensity. The gaze, the eyes, are at the center of each of the artist's complex character searches. Melancholy and self-contained, the subjects of these neo-Renaissance portraits see far beyond the canvas. Does the artist lend them his own vision, or is he, like the viewer, also not privy to the sadness of the angel or the dreams of the immigrants? The technical excellence and mastery of the human face and figure evident in these works are characteristic of the artist's style. The character searchers reference a rich tradition, from the Renaissance three-quarters portrait ("Portrait of a Man," 1996; "Portrait of a Woman," 1996; "Portrait of Fred Begelmacher," 1990) to the Degas-like, softened poses of "The Three Graces" (1996). And yet, Slava succeeds in bringing his own, deeply personal, intensity to each work, and endows each of the subjects - their faces, and especially their eyes - with an inner life. "The Dodgy," (1993) is a masterful and deliberative self-portrait; the artist presents himself as the most dangerous of all observers - the fool, the court jester - in repose. The viewer cannot fathom the dodgy's thoughts; the eyes are dark and almost defensive. Perhaps the artist, the jester, is measuring what he sees in that moment, against all that he has seen before.